


Rifts and Cataclysms

by TheZubat



Category: DA - Fandom, Dragon Age, WoW - Fandom, World of Warcraft
Genre: M/M, OCs - Freeform, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-05-29 23:43:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6399043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheZubat/pseuds/TheZubat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>some little drabble i did between my oc [ovanii] from WoW and my friends oc [Leverette] from Dragon Age.</p><p>edit: this has now spiraled into a full story about my friend's Warden/Inquisitor OC [Levy] and Zevran being dickbags on Azeroth</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Gathering of Mages

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheEarlyKat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEarlyKat/gifts).



The elderly woman next to Leverette kept eyeing Zevran and it was becoming quite annoying now. They were waiting for the head of a 'Mage Council' for some time now, and though Zev tried to take little or no notice of it, the constant itch of eyes on him had become quite grating on the nerves. The inquiry sent around for the sudden meeting stated the responded 'may bring a companion', and Leverette took it to mean a friend. Upon arriving in this odd country, 'companion' seemed to mean more a pet than actual person. He was uncomfortable with the mistake after having seen a raven with feathers of stars; some kind of astral familiar, as if these were the witches those than shunned the mages from the children's storybooks, he had concluded.

He'd also come to realize that he was by far the youngest at the table.

Between the glances and long wait for the 'head mage' they were waiting on, he had grown quite anxious and annoyed, and the constant glances across his person to Zevran weren't easing anything by any measure. He squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed before shifting in his seat to turn his knees in her direction.

"Please," he started, raising his eyes to meet hers, continuing when they left Zevran to settle on him, "stop looking at him like that."

The woman's lips parted, only mildly shocked that she had been caught, before they slipped into a gentle smile with only a hint of admonishment at the corners only the elderly could learn in age could give. "My apologies. I was only just trying to puzzle out what kind of elf the boy was. I meant no harm," she promised. She gave a curt nod and proceeded to face forward, hands crossed gently in her lap in a polite, practiced way.

Leverette glace to his left and he could see slight curiosity peeked in his boyfriend’s eyes, whether benign or not he was uncertain, but the spark had him regretting speaking to the woman now.

"My dear, what kind of elf could I possibly be??" Zevran questioned, hardly hiding the amusement in his voice. Or at least not nearly as hidden as the suspicious and distrust Levy picked up on. He was attentive, ready to intervene if anything went wayward, but more comfortable with Zevran speaking if he was inclined. In a passing conversation such as this, the tone was subtle, enough so no one else should notice.

The woman nodded her interest as she returned to looking at the younger men, more intently rather than just curiously. "Yes, You don't seem like either a high elf nor a blood elf. Hardly like any elf at all really."

Leverette blinked at the given answer and blurted out before Zevran could say anything. "What do you mean?"

"He's quite short for an elf and his ears are quite short as well. I nearly mistook him for human actually, especially what with that skin color." She paused, hands still folded in her lap. "Is he a half breed maybe?"

Zevran cleared his throat. "The 'he' is still present, ma'am." Leverette caught his attention with a look, eyebrows raised in confusion and question. Zevran gave no indication of an answer, but if he was agitated, it was from being addressed through Leverette rather than directly. Leverette eased his pride with a soft smile before turning back to the woman who seemed to just now notice she was being offensive.

"Oh, dear boys, please excuse me. I know you're not from the same area, but I had assumed all elves to be quite similar everywhere given their need for pure bloodlines." She gestured to two individuals with a roll of her wrist. Both were indeed as tall and angular as she described, and one had skin paler than snow with blond hair equally as pale, the other in shades of blue, but it was quite obvious they were the same species of humanoid. Levy pressed his knees together, shifting his weight, embarrassed to have been so offended by this stranger now after seeing how Zevran did, in fact, look far more human than those two creatures. "It's very rare for an elf to take a human mate, but even rarer for the child to turn out so human in appearance."

"He's-" Levy tried to start but was cut off and felt it might be deservedly so. He was talking about Zev through himself, again.

"I'm full elf, ma'am, only from across the seas. I dare say we all look like this there, if all looked as nice as myself." He gave a manufactured and very practiced smile in his attempt to keep polite. Gatherings like this weren't uncommon for him, and were growing less uncommon for Leverette. Powerful people were easy to annoy and care was to be taken when addressing their mistakes. At least, most of them were people - others were creatures neither of them had dared dream up.

The woman hummed her thought to the idea. "May I ask your names? I am Ovanii... ah, well, its a given name that at least can be used," she sighed. Annoyed, not wistful, and Leverette wondered why the name would be an annoyance.

"I, ah, I'm Leverette," Levy vaguely gestured to himself before doing the same to his companion, "and this is Zevran." Zevran, in lieu of speaking, raised a hand to tip an imaginary cap as he leaned on the hard wooden trim of the giant table to finally get a better see the woman.

Her eyes brightened. Given his age and strange companion, compared to the others gathered, it shouldn't have come as much a surprise of who he was. "So you must be the Inquisitor then." It wasn't a question but Leverette felt the need to nod anyway. "Just simply being in this room isn't going to get you far, dear. You've had some trouble if you've been called here under the title Inquisitor, and that won't do for the rest of this meeting."

It was a long conversation Leverette had, then, that he had no hope of remembering long after, but he did make a note that 'companion' did indeed mean some sort of pet, a familiar, and it was no wonder there were stares. It had to be very odd for him to bring his boyfriend as if the elf was his pet. All the people here, too, he found, were more than just mages, but also druids, shamans, priests, and such other things. There was a brief history of them and the area, a lesson he found more interesting than the rest, to explain why everyone at the table seemed to agitated with one another. There was another war, apparently, as if he couldn't walk more than ten steps without getting his feet wet in one of them. Here, though, at this table, was a neutral ground upon a peace treaty in for this Calling of Magic Beings. Levy had been called to be the representative of his country, welcomed in as one with high ranking power.

"If nothing else, Amor, this should be quite interesting." Zev whispered to the blond.

 

The gathering itself, seemed more a formality than something any one was proud to be a part of. There was lots of disruption and dispute, but all was quickly silenced when the Head Mage looked at the 'arguing children', as he'd referred to them. His face was hardly visible from the long grey hair that ran down his face like waterfalls; even his eyebrows seemed to fade into his beard. The amount of hair, oddly well kept, and the gaudy stars and moons robe hardly made it a guess as to who he was. It shouldn't have shocked either men to be in the presence of Merlin. This was a gathering of high powered beings after all, but something about them always gave presented the same air about them.

The things that were addressed were nothing of what Levy or Zev would have had any idea about so they kept quite and as attentive as they could be with the droning voice of the severely aged man.

Nothing seemed to do with them until Merlin addressed what The Cataclysm had been; the way he described it had been so similar to the events the men had seen for themselves in person. They both whipped their heads towards each other and knew they had the same though. "The Rift."

It couldn't be anything else. The similarities were far too similar to be a coincidence.

Levy's face paled at the mention of demons entering the world through the Veil. Many seemed to notice his unease and scoff at the young man, not fully knowing what exactly he had done to earn his chair here. He paid little attention to the burning and cynical stares though - the taste of bile was far too distracting. The touch of a hand in the center of his back was hardly noticed and he was unsure if it was Zevran's or Ovanii's but it was something to ground him. He didn't need to hear the old man's descriptions of recoded events to know exactly how things played out.

Levy wasn't sure how long he was zoned out for or if anyone noticed his panicking, but if they had, they had long become bored and turned their attention back to Merlin. At least the ones who weren't blaming the Orcs for this issue. The arguing was a bit of what had caused him to tune back in; Ovanii was standing now, both hands flattened in tension on the metal of the tabletop, far past the elegant trim that had seemed to occupy his attention for most of the briefing. It slowly came to his attention that she was arguing on behalf of the Orcs? It seemed very odd to him that anyone would be blaming another species from the planet when it had been something like gods to bring down the veil. If anything, he'd think that maybe the elves would be under fire here as they so often were back home.

 

Leverette loitered uncomfortably after the meeting, sticking close to Zevran as others separated and spoke amongst themselves. They seemed far more lively now than they had during the dull meeting before.

"You are determined to worry yourself into an early grave, yes?" The 'smallest elf' elbowed Levy in the ribs playfully before taking him by the hand, squeezing it in apology.

"I seem to have been wrong about the interesting bit; for that I'm sorry." For all the political talk, Zevran still seemed amused with the blonde’s obvious discomfort, even around people who could freely use magic without penalty or reprimand. It was more than a little confusing as to why the other hadn't given in to the freedom it presented, but he supposed someone like Leverette wouldn't give up old habits too quickly, he knew. "It was more boring than the summons led to believe," Levy sighed, giving a final scan of his peers before committing all of his attention to his boyfriend.

"I know a way or two you can make it up to me." Zevran tugged him by the hand to pull him close and Leverette flushed with the thinnest of smiles. It was hard, even surrounded by these people, not to give in to the elf's charm.

Nothing outstandingly bad had happened, or even something minor, but it was indeed long and boring. Until the sight of a dragon mount sent Levy into the offensive early in the meeting, scaring Levy nearly to death and bringing Zevran with him out of outrage.

"Not fond of dragons?" A newly familiar voice offered, distracting Levy long enough to realize he probably shouldn't attack the beast as it was flying off in a seemingly random direction.

"No." He answered bluntly, having to tear his eyes away from the slinder beast before the heat in his palms turned into anything more dangerous. "They're demons."

"Ha!" The woman gave an uncontrolled laugh but quickly caught herself to explain. "They're quite popular pets here! Dear child, please be at ease. I've said before, this is an area of peace. Neutral ground - there is no need to worry here." She gave a smile that would have been hard to deny her anything. It sent a shiver down Levy's spine.

"Ovanii," Zevran spoke up, trying to move the spotlight from the obviously put off Leverette, "you said before that your name was a given one? What does that mean?" The curiosity was hardly bridled and it mildly shocked Levy to see that the elf was genuinely curious about the statement, which come to think about it, he was now too.

"Something of a nickname, just less joyous i'd say." The woman looked very off put and they boys mildly regretted asking,  
"It's black tongue," The comment drew the attention of large colored men and women not far off and earned dirty looking glares, "Orc Speech. I don't quite agree with calling it such a thing, but it is what the alliance has dubbed it. Ovanii means Bad Habit. A name a priest gave to me about 50 years ago for helping a wounded Orc in battle. At the time, I was a medic and new as a priestess. The Orc had done nothing wrong other than follow orders, so I saw no reason why I shouldn't follow mine. 'save the lives of the wounded'. I did what I was supposed to, earned a name because of it. I own it at least." She sighed, having remembered everything as if it were yesterday.

"50 years ago?" Zevran asked, "You must have been young then? Were you not afraid?"

Ovanii chuckled, "Hardly, I was in my 40s then!" Both men looked shocked, at the woman then to each other and back, "The thing about this place, is even the soil has magic. If you aren't killed in battle, you very well could live to be quite over a hundred. Longer with your own magic." She gave a knowing, aged, smile and amused herself with the looks on the boy's faces as they tried to guess her age. True she didn't look young, but she had never been quite enamored with physical beauty in the first place.

"But," Levy dared speak up, "Habit would imply that you did this more than once?"

"yes, quite." Ovanii nodded in agreement, "Many wounded have had little chance, and I see no reason why our king must fight the Hoarde instead of coming to an agreement. They are quite separated as it is, the sea parts our lands, it is only that they are an alien race that mars them. But then so are the Drenai and Elves, but we have no quarrel with them. I see no reason why we should have quarrel with Orcs or Trolls... maybe Goblins. They seem to be malicious for fun i've noticed. They hardly are more than a nuisance when they have no help though." The woman seemed to very obviously realize something as her eyes widened and stance stiffened, actually putting the boys back on edge,  
"Oh, you poor young souls, listening to me ramble. I'm quite sorry, you must have better things to do."  
Going to pass the boys and head towards the ones that had glared earlier, Ovanii patted Levy on the shoulder, "It is a blessing you're here young man. We would be at a loss without you. I will see you at the next gathering."

Levy gave a helpless pleading look to his boyfriend. He wanted nothing more than to run.


	2. Whats a Druid?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levy finds out there is more to "mages" than the umbrella term and just how much the circle actually hid from him; also that he isn't just a mage, but a druid.

  
Zevran sighed as Leverette paced the room they had been given for the night. It seemed that the briefings and gatherings still had another day to them, much to his lovers demise. He'd long given up trying to get the blond's attention and just subsided to cleaning weapons while the man paced a hole in the rug. The previous attempts at an actual conversation had been with minimal success after this gathering had occurred and Levy had hardly come down out of his anxiety fit, not that Zev could really blame him.

"Amor?" nothing, "Levy...?" ... " _Leverette_!"  
Levy jumped at his name, wide eyed and ridged.  
Zevran took this opportunity of stillness to drag the boy into bed and sighed at the shear amount unpleasant emotions on his face.  
"Amor, you know I will follow you à la fin du monde." Levy nodded slowly, worried, "But I believe this is something we have to help with."

Levy looked completely defeated at the statement, "We can't do this again Zevran. We can't!"

Zevran glanced aside for a moment, haphazardly discarded clothes lay bundled in the corner of the small room, the idea of it being in a house they owned seemed far better. An ideal situation with no worries, no circle, no fade business... They could probably do that here, if they fixed the fade.  
"Leverette, mon amor, We aren't doing this again, we are simply finishing the job." He offered, now noticing that he'd busied himself with tracing the blonde's knuckles. He knew the Inquisition had been a terrible strain on Levy, had caused him to start graying a tad early. He wondered how much grayer this would make him, how much stress the world could possibly have for him. For the both of them.

With a sigh and a glance to a clock that showed a time not likely met with good favor, Zevran patted the hands he'd been tracing over,  
"Sleep on it. The mages will not meet tomorrow till noon, you have till then to decide and what you decide, I will follow." He promised before placing a kiss on Leverette's forehead, or at least half of it, the other landing on a grey locked curl, and then situated himself under the knit tavern sheets they were supplied.

 

 

The night's sleep and surprisingly well made breakfast down stairs had done little to calm Levy's nervs but atleast it had given him time to get his heart rate back under control. If only part way. Upon entering the downstairs tavern portion of the inn, Leverette had failed to see the small group of people on the far end having a meal and conversation, and had continued to not take mind to them until he heard Zevran's laughter. Real laughter; it caused an itching curiosity to see what could have the man so jovial this early in the morning. It was a slight shock to see him sitting with the pale elvs and one of the large colored men -this one being red- which they had assumed to be the ones called Orcs. If there was a fourth member of the party, it would have been hidden by the large orc body blocking the view of the other chair. Another thing itched ad scratched at Levy's mind, Zevran was a very attentive person. He always noticed everything, especially things about Levy, and he knew it. So what was so entertaining that he hadn't spared a glace?

Immediately Levy feared the worst and tried to reign in the vial glare he wanted to give the elf at the table, she was exceedingly beautiful; unscared, fully intact limb wise, obvious good looks and youth even if not in age. Something Levy could see Zevran wanting to consort with much to easily in his mind.  
Nearly knocking over the wooden chair he'd been seated at as she pushed out a bit to quickly, he laid down his coin and stiffly approached the group. He kept his nerve up until half way there, then it it started to fade as he doubted himself, but he was only just steps away when the orc's laughter made him flinch. It wasn't so much the booming voice as it was that he'd slammed a hand on the table and the metal of the flat wear and plates clanked against each other; metal on metal was never a pleasant sound. The flinching is what gave him away, Zevran looked out of the corner of his eye at first but quickly turned to Levy in excitement that had the boy embarrassed at any thought he had of the man previously. Though, he had been an exultant liar before they met, so it wouldn't be hard to fake when he was caught doing something he shouldn't.

"Mon Amor! venir, asseoir avec nous!"  
With out a second to argue, Zevran had already had spindly skilled fingers clasped around Levy's wrists and left him with no chance of escape and pulled him into his lap. Levy's face shifted at least 10 shades darker in embarrassment; this was quite a thing to do in every one's view. Immediately his eyes were scanning the room for scowled and snickering, but found none in eye or ear shot. This place truly was odd.

Upon looking over the others at the table, he could see that he wasn't the only person seated on an already claimed chair. Across from the orc was another blue pointy being, but this one had large tusks, so it obviously wasn't an elf, and he had seen some at the gathering. Actually, he had seen this specific one speaking to a rather slight green orc, at least in comparison to the orc to his right. In the Blue creatures lap, was a very tiny green person who's anatomy was mostly their ears it seemed; with the voice it could only be a female, thought he guessed it could have bee a very squeaky male. It was hard to tell under all the black cloth and face mask. The Female elf sat alone but the orc surprisingly [or unsurprisingly, Levy couldn't make up his mind on this at the moment] was Ovanii. She fully seated herself on one knee of the giant man with her legs dangling between his. It wasn't a wonder he hadn't seen her from the other side with her at this angle. She sat just as regally as she had in the hall, she must have had enough practice to have it a habit by now.

"Good morning Leverete!" She chirped now that he was looking at her fully. Levy could only blush deeper and mumble an embarrassed hello.

 

"Amor, look at what these people have shown me!" Zevran seemed unable to still himself in his excitement as he gathered up his lover’s attention once more. Releasing Levy's hips, which he honestly hadn't noticed had moved there, Zevran did some sort of hand gesture only a petty magician at a carnival would do and then turned invisible.  
Levy stiffened. He'd seen the man do something similar, but never be completely invisible; he'd have thought he teleported if he couldn't still feel deceivingly skinny legs beneath him still.  
"How?" Was all that the blonde could manage to gather together cohesively without pure embarrassment.

With the way the elf reappeared, Levy could imagine and audible 'pop' to go with it.  
"We can do things here," Zevran's hands clasped Levy's upper arms in excitement, "that we could never do at home. It is just as Ovanii said, Amor! Even the soil has magic! It gifts its power to everyone it seems!"  
The idea alone seemed to put more terror into the boy rather than excitement. All he could think of was 'more circles, more Templars' and that alone seemed more like a curse than something to excite yourself over.

 

It took a couple minutes of further explaining that there were no "circles" here, which seemed to confuse and disgust the others at the table when they got the explanation of why Levy was so off put with the free use of magic when he himself had magic, which earned many apologies and other such things on his behalf from them all. Along with the knowledge that people of magic ability were more revered than anything. Currently, he was trying to wrap his mind around the concept of whatever a Druid was, after the magic users at the table asked what kind of magic Levy could do.

"Druids come and go as they please, and their goals typically have little to do with the "civilized" world. Unaffiliated with any specific government, the primary druidic organization on Azeroth, the Cenarion Circle, answers to no one save itself. The highest rank that a druid can have is that of arch druid, and there are only a few arch druids on Azeroth. At the moment the Cenarion Circle's leader is Arch druid Malfurion Stormrage, also widely considered to be the first mortal druid on Azeroth." Ovanii translated the blue man's words for him, he'd learned that he was a Troll and spoke Zandali, which only Ovanii and the Orc knew. Also that the Troll and Orc were Vis'zal and Orimm. Orimm could speak common but some words Ovanii or the elf, Landell, needed to translate for the boys. Both women seemed to know all the languages of Azeroth, and in their age, it's no wonder they were so fluent.

Levy bolted upright, "You said there were no Circles in Azeroth!"  
The outburst alone was confusing and surprising, but Levy had seemed too timid to the group that it was more so.

It took a second for anyone to piece together what he meant but Landelle was the first to speak,  
"You misunderstand. It is not like 'your circle', it is merely a group of arch druids, like yourself, who have the most knowledge. I don't know of any actual gathering they commit to, it's more like... how would a human put it?" She'd turned to Ovanii now, who seemed to also contemplate how to explain this delicately.  
"Like... a club?" She offered with a slight shrug.  
The explanation did little to curb Levy's agitation and near rage, but it was enough to know it wasn't his circle. That and Vis'zal, who didn't know common at all seemed to take the pause to continue his explanation of druids.

 

"Through their deep connection to life and nature, druids are able to take on an unusually large variety of roles. Probably a druid's best-known role is that of a healer. Druids are justly famed for their ability to restore life, cure poisonous wounds, and remove curses. Indeed, restoring and protecting the planet is one of the top priorities for all druids. Still, to regard a druid as merely a healer is a dangerously simplistic assumption that has led to the defeat of many an unwary foe.

Druids' empathy with the creatures of the wild also allows them to shape shift into the forms of other animals. For example, a wounded druid whose magical energies are running low might abruptly take on the form of a bear in order to better withstand further injury. Alternatively, the druid might shift into the form of some large cat, sneak up behind an enemy, then pounce and deliver a fierce flurry of melee attacks. Even the deepest oceans can be explored by druids, who can simply shift into an aquatic creature, allowing them to stay underwater as long as needed.

Until the end of the Third War, druids periodically visited the Emerald Dream to monitor the ebb and flow of life on Azeroth. Today such a visit has become more difficult due to Nordrassil's poor health.

Druids possess a deep understanding of the way in which all living things depend upon one another. Whenever this delicate equilibrium is disrupted, the druids work to restore the balance. To that end, druids can use their connection with the Emerald Dream to exert a calming influence over animals, even forcing some into a temporary state of hibernation. Just as the druids can wield peace and somnolence, however, they can tap into the fury of nature itself. Terrible storms respond to their call; thorns sprout from their skin to wound their attackers. Even previously harmless roots grow from the soil at greatly accelerated speeds in order to entangle foes.

For obvious reasons, druids thrive in the wild outdoors. Inevitably they lose some of their effectiveness when they are forced to endure separation from the natural environment. What good is a cleansing rain when a druid cannot even see the sky? How are roots to capture a foe who is standing atop a high tower? Such cases clearly require a druid with the imagination to consider new strategies and the flexibility to carry them out.

Yet this flexibility, too, comes with an underlying negative corollary. The druid tends to be a jack-of-all-trades, but a master of none. An unusual mixture of priest, rogue, and warrior, the druid is therefore not equal to any of these three classes in their particular specialties. Even so, the druid's incredible adaptability serves them well in confronting the challenges which Azeroth throws their way."  
Landelle and Ovanii seemed to take turns in the translation when Ovanii seemed to wind down a bit or run out of breath; her age showing through no doubt.

The explanation itself seemed excruciatingly pointless to Levy, seeing as he'd never done anything of the kind, but the itching in the back of his mind started his thinking that maybe it wasn't his fault for that. The circle had kept so many things secret from mages. He was aware that some mages had completely different abilities than others, if they were meant to be different sects of magic, that would be an explanation. Levy himself had always been good with nature magic, specifically fire and healing... both seemed to fall squarely into the Druid sect.

"I've never seen a human Druid before." Landelle expressed, "Not for thousands of years. Humans have no love for the earth or it's spirits, Levy, but it isn't had to see you would not quite fall into the category of human either." The doll like features of the woman's face shifted to something of amusement,  
"I can see why you would choose and elf, given your attunement with nature." at that, she nodded to the table and bit her farewell, saying that someone was calling her though Levy head nothing of the sort.

The confusion must have been quite obvious because Zevran spoke quietly to him from behind,  
"She told me earlier about this; that here they have attunement ceremonies and they can hear each other even over continents because of it. They do not use rings like in Kirkwall, but it is essentially the same as a marriage."  
Both men colored at the thought. It must be incredibly intimate, but also it being a permanent thing left no room for error in a relationship at all, meaning that no one here was viable for divorce. That person would stay with you until they died.

"It’s more than that." Ovanii said in a low tone they boys almost missed her comment. The solemn look on her face gave away that whatever she had to say was nothing wonderful but they gave their attention any way.  
"It's not just in life. It's in death too. When one person under the attunement dies, a piece of the other dies as well. You feel everything that happens, and then it’s just a whole."

The whole tavern seemed to still at that point, many pedestrians pointedly looking away or down at their drinks. A sniffle in the back corner gave thought that at least one person there had been through this already. It obviously was a serious matter.

 

Then it dawned on at least Levy, that Ovanii had joined the priesthood in her 40s, she must have been married beforehand and then chosen to learn healing. It made sense at least.

"Je suis désolé"


	3. [part one of] Run Druid, Run!

Levy sat on the edge of his seat all through the gathering, early four and a half hours of arguing and explanation before he even got to speak about Thedas and the Veil. Most of what he'd said fell on deaf ears, after all, he couldn’t expect them all to grasp his knowledge of the world when he barely had one of theirs. Some paid attention though; the orc shaman, Ovanii, some blood and night elves, to name the most attentive. Some humans listened while others were had headed and refused, the trolls -who apparently only had druids and shamans- paid well enough attention, but over all he knew he was drowning on at parts. He did try to keep his personal life far out of the retelling as best he could. Half of these people hardly wanted him here at all, so why push them further with frivolous things about himself and his friends? He was however, and Zevran as well he saw, glad for the near silence he received during the majority of his story and explanations. It made everything go much quicker.

The decision to stay wasn't exactly his choice, but more in guilt pushing him to say yes. Firstly, Zevran had been right, they weren't doing this 'again', they had to finish the job they left incomplete. Second, Zev had seemed so excited this morning while learning about the sheer amount of magic here, and honestly he himself had a sickening curiosity about these new magics. Lastly but certainly by far not the least, someone -he couldn't remember if it was Ovanii or Landelle or maybe the bar maid- mentioned a great library dedicated to magic in some place called Stormwind. Zevran had agreed to explore and see this library with him directly after the meeting had concluded.

"If I never have to sit through another briefing again, it'd be a blessing!" Levy sighed in complete exasperation. Zevran chuckled at him, arm looped through Levy's and not daring to argue even playfully lest he jinx them both.  
Levy gave a slight twitch of a smirk at the lack of retort, "At least now we can figure out how to get to this Storm place."

"Aye, but you see Amor, I have already taken care of that!" Zevran gave a slight bow, not wanting to let go.  
"While you were busy in the men's room" He hip checked the other in jest at the absolute 'dying' look he was given, "and it turns out that A, we're in a place called Panderia, which is a giant turtle with civilization sprouting on it's shell; and B, there are two portals here. One to this Alliance and the other to that Hoarde."

The idea of a turtle eve getting this large seemed near impossible, but after the things the two had seen, Levy didn't dare label anything as 'impossible' anymore and stared at his boyfriend with eyes wide and unable to keep up pace with this new information taking up all the space in his brain.

"We're on a turtle?" He mumbled half to himself. Darting a look around, there was nothing that even indicated that this was anything more than an island. True there was always myths of a floating island, but if the island was really a turtle!? With panda and fish people living on it no less! He wondered if they were animals that evolved to be more humanoid like -whether magic was involved or not- or vice versa, and how the turtle could have gotten so large and then if maybe there were things even larger in the sea.

Demons, dragons, giant turtles, what next!?

Levy hardly noticed that he was being led with his mind in a tizzy just trying to comprehend this place, he on some passing thought wondered if maybe the library would have a better description -maybe even I picture or diagram- of this turtle. By the time Zevran had actually gotten Levy to the platforms for the portals, he had given up trying to converse with the boy and simply enjoyed the silence and the murmur of passerbys talking about their day or training at one temple or another. The creatures here were very kind if not odd. Well, most of them anyway. He had seen how some of the pedestrians bullied others, but it was far and in between as well as the fact that for the past few days they had been very close to the inn and gathering. Most things were arguments and threats, still far less violent than Thedas but he did wonder if it was because of the neutral ground or that these people hardly knew what a true war was. All the same, they would find out soon enough if they didn't know already. The fade would make sure of it.  
At any rate, now was the issue of getting Levy out of his trance, what better way than to kiss him out of it like a princess in a fairy tale?

"Well, that was quite disappointing." Zevran sulked, leaning rather heavily against Levy's shoulder.

"Why? I thought it was pretty good magic if we went from the middle of the ocean to a whole new continent." Levy offered, failing to see what exactly failed to be as amazing as whatever the other had imagined would happen.

"Well, yes, that’s amazing, but kissing you was more magical feeling than walking through that thing. It didn't feel much like anything; at least when you do magic, I can feel it in the air. It was rather lacking in my opinion."

Levy actually chuckled at the man, true he didn't know how magic felt different depending on what you were trying to do with it, but as someone who was aware of such things, it was mildly amusing. "Well, at least it didn't hurt, right?"  
A much to exhausted sigh was all Levy got in response at that, he was right after all. Shaking his head, he tried to figure out just where they were based on little to no knowledge of the area. He had only glanced at a map the other day, having not expected to stay long at the time.  
From the quick glance around, they were obviously in some kind of Barracks. It smelled like horses and man sweat at least and caused his nose to wrinkle in attempted -and failed- escape from the foulness. A glace down showed even Zevran had lost composure at the stench and had covered almost all of his face.

The murmur of roughhousing could be heard from the far side of the court, Levy had half a mind to go ask for directions before a couple of men fell out the door. It was near instantaneous, how everything seemed to stop for him. There was no mistaking the uniform of the men, they couldn't be anything other than Templars. True the uniform had minor differences, but it was still an unwavering similarity that it became sickening to look at.  
He had been promised there were no Templars here! No Circles! Nothing like Thedas was supposed to be here!

Zevran tried to steady the boy when he keeled over and hurled up whatever he had managed to eat back in Tunshui, the man assumed the smell had been what had got his boyfriend's goat and was about to tease him when he saw the two men picking themselves up out of the mud. A horse panicking had caused him to not see them immediately, but that surely wasn't a viable excuse. His own form of panic set in when he noticed the two burly uniforms notice them both. One kept laughing while the other asked if Levy had had too much to drink already this morning. The comment wouldn't have turned his stomach had it been any other person, but given the assumption of who they were, it was flipping tremendously, yet Zevran kept his outward composure.  
There were no Circles here, they weren't going to start anything; Zevran had to mentally chant to himself.

"Afraid not!" The elf's more jovial tune hid his agitation more than well, "We aren't exactly from around here, it must have hit him harder than we expected!"

Both men chuckled at the idea, being veterans of the local taverns.  
"Seems the boy has a bit to learn!" One man said, getting a jab from the other. Levy had stumbled back to his feet but wavered and shock in anger and fear, luckily the men simply assumed he was too drunk to function correctly and kept their attention on Zevran. The man who had jabbed the other seemed the politer one,  
"Sorry, my brother is a bit of a drunk himself. I'm Ara and his name is Danne`" He spoke with a small smile and both boys could actually see the familial resemblance now, though years separated the men, "We're both Royal Guards, so it's our duty" He emphasized to his brother, "To assist you. Can we help you get somewhere?"

Zevran could feel the static in the air from Levy's concentrated emotions and moved in front of him slightly to keep him from speaking and making a situation out of nothing. These were Guards not Templars.  
"We're looking for a rather large Library around here. Somewhere in the m-"

"Hey, you a half blood!?" The older of the two men, Danne`, boomed, startling both boys into jumping back some inches.

"Pardon?" Zevran's voice broke ask he asked, caught off guard and cringing inwardly at the very sound.

Danne` took a heavy step forward and stuck his face dangerously close to Zevran's, examining him with more than bias.  
"You look like a BElf! Not nearly as good lookin' though," He gave a foul chortle, "But human blood would muddle that beauty wouldn't it. Y'ma musta'-"

Levy released lighting right into the man's metal plates, effectively frying him inside and out. Fierce blue eyes landed on the younger brother who had drew his blade immediately.   
"Say something, I dare you."


	4. Chapter 3: [part 2 of] Run Druid, Run!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the song; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl3CmzQY1So

Ara’s snarl was little rage in comparison to what his eyes held behind tears. Levy was well aware of what he’d just done but no one was going to threaten his friends and get away with it; especially like that. The three seconds of stare down between the two seemed much longer and it was easy to tell both men were equally enraged with each other though they carried it differently; then everything fell apart as Ara thrust is sword forwards, aiming straight for Levy’s chest.

This being no new occurrence to him, he was nimble enough to get inches out of the blades path before it struck him. Taking an additional leap backwards to gain a few feet of distance, he was able to pull his staff from its clip on his back and keep it in at least a defensive position for now, seeing as the living brother had charged him. The steel of the blade clashed in an awful screech against the iron of the staff that rang in levy’s ears, though this wasn’t a new sound it still caused him to wince and grit his teeth. He could feel Ara pressing down in attempt to push him off balance and he thought to just angle him down so he would stumble and slide off the staff, but the need to see where Zevran was over powered the tactical logic. He was nowhere in sight.

Panic set into Levy’s chest and he failed to notice Ara withdraw his sword for another swing until the full pressure was gone and he stumbled forward. Wide eyes snapped up to see the blade coming down on him and all Levy could do was drop to dead weight to escape it completely lopping off his head. There was no way to complete escape the blow, but a slice between his shoulders was preferable to death.

Attempting to roll away and avoid further injury, shivers went down the blonde’s spine as he felt mud, and surely shit to boot, full the wound and cause it to sting profusely more than it had. The muck also prevented him from simply healing right away as well. Highly inconvenient. 

He wasn’t able to get up fast enough and had could do nothing better than parry once more, effectively pinning him to the ground. The sound the mud made as he was pressed further into it made his stomach churn once more along with the smell being far worse down at this level than it had been standing. Even the stance Ara was in over him prevented the blonde from kicking to escape, lest the blade cut his throat instead of the heart it was aimed at.

Failing to figure out an escape and seeing the guard raise his blade for another attack, Levy forgot how to breath and simply accepted, once again, that he wouldn’t have a future past today. Past that one particular moment.

And then there was blood. The whole fight had only lasted moments, but they seemed long, and this seemed wrong. There was blood in his eyes and yowls that he was sure weren’t his.

Hurriedly as he could, Levy drug the thick fabric of his uniform sleeve over his face to rid himself of at least some of the blood and feared they had caught Zevran and slit his throat right over him somehow without him seeing.

Confusion and then relief washed over him as he saw Zevran more or less holding up the younger brother with a blade through his heart and another one covered in just as much blood but clutched in his hand as he had flung his arm around the man’s upper chest to keep him from falling on Levy. The blood that was spilt had mostly been from the slit throat and the yowls had been from the men charging out of the barracks from the commotion outside. Some, more than half drunk, but others quite lively in their chase.

Without even an apology for disappearing, Ara was tossed aside and Levy grabbed up by his wrist and drug behind a fleeing elf. 

What a lovely entrance this turned out to be. Yet again running for their lives; at least they were running from a group of men instead of Dark Spawn for a change. Men were preferable, most of the time anyway.

Pedestrians stared as the two men ran from the drunken stumbling mass of guardsmen behind them, no one dared interfere and tried their best to get out of the way should they be in it. Those with weapons or magic may have exchanged glances in wonder if they should offer help, but none took the idea as wise and if they did, they were too far behind them now to be of any use.

A voice caught the Antivan's ear; reflexively he took a sharp left towards it. It was just faint enough that a human ear might catch wind of it if not for the hollering men that gave chase. Part of Zevran's mind was chastising himself for following the unknown woman's voice and having done so based purely on a long forgotten and barely remembered memory. The other part of his mind, or at least the remaining part that wasn't trying to toss with back at Levy who was frantically trying to cast spells and ask where they were headed, was praising whatever deity that was listening that he'd herd the old sylvan and recognized it at all. 

[Mir Da'len Somminar]

The more turns and halls Zevran led them through, the further behind the men got and the more desperate the elf seemed to find the person singing. Levy, having started to hear the voice the further away the men got, was growing slightly worried at just how harried his boyfriend was; it was rare that anything would get through the mask of joviality and wit that the other man held onto so tightly. For a moment, Levy wondered if maybe he had been taken under a spell, but quickly banished the thought seeing as if it were the case, he too would be under it instead of trying to keep his balance as he was pulled by a much shorter and faster man and tried not to stumble and bring on their early demise so quickly.

Much to the boy's expectations, when they finally rounded the last corner, they started a blue-ish purple skinned elf woman. The lights in her eyes brightening in shock at the sight of the frantic men who just short of jumped on her.

Had it have been any other instance, Levy would have completely lost his calm at the sight of the griffons and hippogriffs being tended by the woman and two dwarves, but at this moment it hardly even registered as anything other than an escape.

Zevran had come to the same conclusion,  
"Pardon me, but we are in a great hurry and were wondering if you would mind us borrowing one of those?" He gestured quickly and a bit rigidly -as far as Zevran's movements went any way- at the beasts.

"Oh, I don-" The elf was cut short by a dwarf woman behind her that had gone unnoticed until now,

"New comers," She grumbled as more of a statement to herself than the boys before actually addressing them, "One rider per griffon, costs 20 silver to the nearest town, further away, more silver. Where d'ya wanna go?"

"20 gold pieces and we forget where, eh?" The elf was already tossing a bag of coin at the woman and hurrying Levy to the nearest beast before she could even protest, not that she seemed about to anyway. Levy had half a mind to chastise the man for using so much of their coin but let it drop in favor of hurrying along. He could bring it up later if they actually escaped without harm.

"But Zev, we don't have a map, we have no idea where we're going." Levy warned as he was ushered up onto a white griffon.

"Follow me then." The half-forgotten elf woman stated just as quietly as she mounted a blue-green hippogriff. The boys exchanged a glance but neither argued and Zevran hurried on to the nearest bird and watched as the woman bounded past and leapt into the air before her beast's wings extended and they took flight. Guardsmen were almost on them, just a hair away by the time the boys got off the stone wall and in to the air.

After the calm of the wind set in and the small group were no longer looking over their shoulders at thrown shoes and arrows, a choking gasp caught their attention. Both elves looked back at their human flight-companion in fear and shock, expecting the worst, only to find him teary eyed with shock and excitement and visibly about to burst.

"Amor, ar you alri-" Zevran tried, having to raise his voice above the wind and whipping of feathers against it only to get cut off by the near-inhuman screech that escaped Levy.

"WE ARE ON GRIFFONS!!! ITS A GRIFFON!!! IM ON A GRIFFON AND ITS NOT SQUAKSBERRY!!!" Levy nearly fell out of his mount in the exclamation and nearly knocked the poor bird out of the sky with the awkward hug slash strangle he gave it from his seat. Which was in itself a feat since he had to reach out of it a bit to reach the beast's neck and that would have been hard even if he had two feet to stand on.

“What is a ‘Squacksberry’?” The female elf spoke up in confusion, over Zevran’s rather boisterous laughter.  
“That, my dear, would be our Warden’s dear pet Griffon. Quite a rare beast where we come from. His excitement, I must admit, is quite warranted.” Zevran explained reflexively laying on his accent a bit in the presence of a new lady,  
“And what may we call you?”  
The lady startled a bit on her own mount, she had completely forgotten she had yet to introduce herself or they to her,  
“I’m Arle`(*) Windryder, I take care of the Hippogriffs and some of the Griffons back in Teldrassil. Who are you two, and why were the guards chasing you!?”

 

*(pronounced: are – lay)


End file.
